Behaviour
The dog is a social creature. It prefers the company of people and of other dogs to living alone. It is, therefore, considered by animal behaviourists to be a pack animal. In this respect it is similar to its distant relative the wolf. As a result of millennia of selective breeding, the dog has been adapted to live with people. Seminal studies of dog behaviour conducted in the 1950s and ’60s showed, however, that dogs raised without human contact at an early age retain their inherent instincts and prefer relationships with other dogs over associations with people.
Territory and range
Both dogs and wolves are territorial animals. Wolf packs, because of their need to hunt game, claim large territories as their own, whereas dogs claim their territories based on the limitations of their owners. Male wolves and dogs mark their territorial boundaries by urinating and rubbing their scent on the ground or on trees to warn other animals of their presence.
When on neutral ground, that which is not considered by either dogs or wolves to be their home territory, strangers greeting each other will go through formal rituals of sniffing, marking, tail wagging, and posturing. Unless they are claiming the same prey or are engaged in courting the same female, such interactions are usually terminated by each going its own way. Females will attack strangers in neutral territory to protect their young, however.
Barking
Both dogs and wolves have a repertoire of barks, growls, and howls that are identifiable among themselves and to humans who have studied their vocabulary. Dog owners can determine by certain sounds whether their pet is playful, warning of a stranger nearby, fearful, or hurt. One of the earliest signs that puppies are becoming social and independent creatures within the litter are the yips and barks that they make while playing with one another. Dogs, unlike wolves, will growl if cornered or fearful. Certain breeds of dogs, notably hounds, have been bred to enhance the howling instinct when they are on the trail of game. Some of the northern breeds, such as the Siberian husky, howl rather than bark. At the other end of the spectrum, the basenji does not bark but rather emits a yodeling sound when it is happy.
Behavioral development
Canine behaviour is a combination of instinct and environment. Dogs are born with certain innate characteristics that are evident from birth. Puppies are born blind and deaf, totally dependent on the dam for warmth and nourishment. The dam will instinctively suckle and protect her young, often keeping other dogs and all but the most trusted people away from the whelping box. Between 10 and 14 days after birth, the eyes and ear canals open, and the puppies begin to move actively around their nest. As they grow, they become more curious and start to investigate their surroundings independently. The dam will begin to leave them alone briefly. During this phase they relate most intensely to their littermates and dam and may become unhappy at being removed from their familiar surroundings. This stage of development lasts about 20 days and is the first of four critical periods. Beginning at three weeks of age, the most adventurous puppies will seek ways to get out of the whelping box and will start to investigate the larger world. At this age puppies are receptive to human contact, which is essential if they are to bond with people when they become adults. Dogs left alone from four weeks on will never reach their full potential as pets and will often become independent and more difficult to train than those accustomed to close human contact from an early age. At the same time, during the period between three and seven weeks, it is important that puppies socialize with their littermates and dam. This is when the dam weans her puppies, first by regurgitating some of her own food and then by not allowing her puppies to nurse as often as they would like. At about four weeks of age, puppies can be offered solid food in the form of a soft gruel. Individual socialization of each puppy in a litter can begin at six weeks of age. This is when puppies begin to be more receptive to handling and attention.
The third critical period in a puppy’s development is from 7 to 12 weeks. It has been shown in studies undertaken at various breeding kennels that this is the best age to form human-dog relationships. Attachments formed during this period will affect the attitude of the dog toward humans and toward its acceptance of direction and learning. During this period the pack instinct, which has played such an important role in the puppy’s early development, can be transferred to humans. At this time environment becomes a vital part of the dog’s education and training. This is when a human can most easily establish dominance over the dog, becoming the “leader of the pack.” At this age a dog will accept a submissive role more readily than at any other time in its life. Learning comes most readily at this age. Puppies taught basic commands, even if they are not reinforced for several months, will remember them and respond if they are taught during this critical age.
The fourth critical stage in a puppy’s development is between 12 and 16 weeks. At this age the puppy will declare its independence from its mother and will become increasingly daring in its forays from the familiar. Puppy training can begin during this period, and it is a time of rapid physical and mental growth. The permanent teeth begin to emerge at this time, which is often a painful and distractive process. Puppies need to chew during this period, and, if they are not provided with appropriate teething toys, they will use any available hard object, such as furniture. Puppies at this age may be less willing to cooperate or respond to new commands.
A dog’s personality continues to develop during its entire maturing process and will undergo radical changes while the dog matures sexually and physically. Dogs mature sexually earlier than they do emotionally. Their personalities develop more slowly than their bodies, much like humans but unlike wolves, whose personalities and sexuality develop more harmoniously.
At about seven or eight months many puppies tend to go through a period of anxiety. They are insecure, frightened of strangers, and will appear timid. If this is not an inherited trait, it will disappear within a few months. If it is inherited, that condition will remain and may become accentuated with time.
Breed-specific behaviour
There are distinctive breed-typical personalities that have been developed through generations of selection for certain traits. By roughly grouping dogs according to the work they were bred to do, it is possible to determine the type of temperament a dog might have at maturity. Differences in breed personalities can be seen at an early age. Sporting dogs will generally be adventurous, following their noses wherever scents lead them, but will respond enthusiastically to calls from familiar humans. Hounds generally tend to be more aloof and independent, inclined to scout the territory on their own and follow a scent or a movement; they are not as interested in human interaction as the bird dogs are.
Working and herding puppies have greater commercial enterprise-like tendencies. They generally tend to assess situations and set approximately their duties. Collie dogs have been recognised to herd children, ducklings, or every different in an instinctive manifestation of their birthright. Guarding dogs have a tendency to be protecting of their territories, even at an early age. Such dogs as the Maremma or the kuvasz, which might be bred to guard flocks, are located with the sheep from the time they may be dogs with a view to toughen their fundamental defensive instincts. Collies and Akitas are regarded for their robust experience of loyalty. Terriers, bred to chase and seize rodents, have a tendency to be extraordinarily energetic, active, and feisty as puppies, developments that maintain into maturity. Newfoundlands are famend for lifesaving instincts.
Breed specificity additionally influences how properly dogs adapt to new environment or to new proprietors. Such things can't be taught to dogs. They are innate—a part of a dog’s instinctive behaviour—and are regularly breed-specific, although blended breeds had been regarded for precise instincts as properly.
The companionship between human beings and puppies isn't always a brand new phenomenon. However, in modern society most puppies are owned as pets, now not due to the work they have been bred to do. Many breeds, consisting of the toy dogs, have been advanced precisely to be pets. All of the diverse breeds and mixed breeds have specific trends and enchantment to distinct forms of human beings.
Acquiring a canine is a prime choice, due to the fact the canine will become totally depending on its proprietor for its care and welfare. This responsibility continues throughout the existence of the canine. Thus, the initial decision must be based on a critical attention of whether or not one’s life-style genuinely lends itself to proudly owning a dog—this is, whether or not a dog might be an asset in preference to a legal responsibility.
Selection
The next attention is the selection of a particular sort of dog. Many people need a purebred dog because they prefer the advent or the character, and they're confident that the pup they buy will grow up to seem like the breed it represents. Others discover that a blended breed will do just as nicely, and there are numerous shelters, humane societies, and rescue businesses that harbour puppies in want of houses. No count what sort of canine someone chooses, it's far crucial that or not it's a healthy animal. When evaluating a pup or an adult canine, numerous functions will help determine the bodily situation of the animal. The canine should appear pleasant and outgoing. Puppies specifically need to exhibit curiosity and a tail-wagging enthusiasm. They have to not cling again or appear timid or worried. Eyes should be bright and shiny with no discharge, and the inner eyelids have to be easy and red. Ears ought to be clean-smelling and freed from debris. Gums should be crimson and company, except within the case of chow chows and shar-peis, whose gums and tongue are black. The skin ought to experience heat and dry to touch. Clammy pores and skin or the presence of reddened patches, crusts, scales, or parasites are indicative of troubles that could be each external and inner. The hair coat ought to be clean and sweet-smelling. The canine must be in accurate shape and construct, however now not overweight or so thin that the ribs and hipbones display. People shopping for purebred puppies ought to understand the exceptional traits of the breed they have got chosen, with a view to ask the breeder right questions and have some manner of comparing the first-class of the dog they're shopping. Many purebred dogs have hidden genetic problems of which precise breeders are conscious. Many of these troubles can be managed via careful breeding, but the consumer ought to recognise—thru studying approximately the breed and speakme to fanciers—what questions to ask. Mixed-breed puppies also can have hidden genetic troubles, but there is no way to determine what they is probably or whether or not they will in the end affect the canine in an unfavourable manner. Great strides are being made in veterinary studies to pick out genetic defects and thereby assist breeders to choose the fine breeding stock. By removing from their gene pool those dogs with genetic abnormalities, breeders can help make certain that the breed remains healthy and feasible.
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